President Obama wants to meet with G-7 leaders next week to discuss the situation in Ukraine. / Pool photo via Getty Images

by Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY

by Aamer Madhani, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON -- President Obama has invited leaders from seven world powers to meet next week to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

The White House announced plans for the meeting on Tuesday, shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his intention to annex the Crimea region of Ukraine and two days after residents in the region voted overwhelmingly to join Russia.

Obama has invited leaders from the so-called G-7 members -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Union -- to take part in the talks while they are in the Netherlands for the biennial Nuclear Security Summit on March 24-25.

"The meeting will focus on the situation in Ukraine and further steps that the G-7 may take to respond to developments and to support Ukraine," National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.

The G-7 members have already suspended preparations for the G-8 meeting that Russia was set to host in Sochi later this year.

On Monday, Obama announced sanctions targeting seven Russian officials close to Putin and four Ukrainian officials. And he vowed to work with Congress and Western allies to provide economic aid help Ukraine's sputtering economy.

But Obama is facing increasing criticism from Republicans--including Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney--for his handling of the crisis.

Romney, the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee, slammed Obama and former secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in a Wall Street Journal op-ed for leaving the U.S. "without acceptable options."

"Their failure has been painfully evident: It is hard to name even a single country that has more respect and admiration for America today than when President Obama took office, and now Russia is in Ukraine," Romney wrote. "Part of their failure, I submit, is due to their failure to act when action was possible, and needed."

Meanwhile, Vice President Biden, who was in Warsaw on Tuesday meeting with regional leaders about the situation in Ukraine, called Russia's actions in Crimea a "land grab" and vowed that the U.S. commitment to NATO allies in the region was "ironclad."

Biden also suggested more sanctions against Russian could be coming soon.

"It's a simple fact that Russia's political and economic isolation will only increase if it continues down its current pat

h and it will, in fact, see additional sanctions by the United States and the EU," Biden said.